Rare 'fogbow' caught on video by Kansas meteorologist
Fogbows are sometimes referred to as white rainbows, cloudbows or ghost rainbows
Rare weather 'fogbow' caught by meteorologist in Kansas
Dissipating fog on Nov. 3 gave rise to a fogbow, sometimes called a white rainbow, at the Nation Weather Service office in Goodland, Kansas, shortly after sunrise.
GOODLAND, Kan. – It's not every day that anyone can capture a meteorological phenomenon over the Kansas skies.
But for senior meteorologist Brandon Vincent with the National Weather Service in Goodland, watching a fogbow form after sunrise Wednesday was all about perfect timing.
Vincent lined up his camera to the best of his ability based on what he was thinking and started rolling as the fog came. However, what he captured in about 30 minutes of video to compose the six-second time-lapse was a rare sight for him and probably many others in the Midwest.
"My first thought was, ‘Oh, that’s cool,'" Vincent said. "I don't think I've ever seen one of those before."
Viewing a fogbow is like seeing a rainbow with the sun behind you but looking into a bank of fog. When a fogbow appears at night, it is called a lunar fogbow.
(Brandon Vincent / NWS Goodland)
Fogbows -- sometimes called white rainbows, cloudbows or ghost rainbows -- are rainbows, except the colors aren't as vibrant because the water droplets that cause them are so tiny. It gives them an almost white color.
To view one is rare. You have to be in the right place at the right time because they usually form as the fog dissipates. Viewing a fogbow is like seeing a rainbow with the sun behind you but looking into a bank of fog. When a fogbow appears at night, it is called a lunar fogbow.
The NWS said dense fog near the Kansas-Nebraska-Colorado border would continue to shift slowly east Wednesday afternoon as rapid reductions in visibility are expected in areas.